Title : Women Stopping Travelers at Goyu (Station #36)

Artist : Utagawa Hiroshige

Date : c. 1833 - 1834

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Source : Honolulu Museum of Art
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Description : Teahouse waitresses at Goyu, the thirty-sixth station on the Tökaidö, were famed for their aggressiveness, as Hiroshige comically depicts here. Two women forcefully try to drag male travelers into their shops, as a third looks on with an expression that could suggest either amusement or disdain. On the right, inside an inn, a male customer sits while an old lady washes his feet, and a young waitress leans out the window, her boredom not relieved even by the ruckus outside. This print employs a clever device by placing signboards on the inside wall of the inn’s entrance that identify the print series title, designer, carver, printer, and in a large white circle, the publisher Takenouchi. Information on carvers and printers is rare for the Edo period, and the inclusion of the carver’s and printer’s names make this a print of special historical interest. ("The Tôkaidô Road: Connecting Japan" exhibition Nov/26/2009-Jan/24/2010)

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